LOST: Here we go...

6.14: "The Candidate"

OK. Just a little. I cried. Feckin feck.

And no fair having Hurley break down in front of me after the commercial break!

Not the best deaths for Sun and Jin, but undeniably heart-punching. I'd like for Joss Whedon to step in whenever one of my favorite characters in any storyverse needs to die.

Sayid went out well.

Lapidus, alas, not so much.

Quick brain dump.

Was anyone else at least a little annoyed that when Sun and Jin are alone, sharing their last moments in this world together, they're speaking English most of the time? I remember a moment like that in LAST SAMURAI. Annoying. Breaks the moment, and of all moments to break! The scene is still irresistibly touching/button-pushing, but I can't help but have problems with the details. I wish they'd gone out as the result of a decision or the downside risk of a daring gambit, y'know? It's sweet and right that one should stay for the other, but for that other to be taken by chance, by accident? Dammit, they deserve better!

*sigh*

Is it possible Lapidus made it out? Was there anyone else around to drag him out? Getting hit by a hatch door is not something you survive easily. If he comes walking out of the surf, I'm afraid he'll have been Infected. Boo.

I like true believer Jack. I like that he's getting in tune with the meta-logic that governs Island affairs, recognizing the concept of the Rules, without being told, sussing out that Esau is "allowed" to do certain things and not allowed to do others. It's too bad Sawyer's not buying it...

Sawyer tells Jack to knock Locke-ness into the water. It seems like it might have done what Sawyer hoped—prevented him from jumping into Smoke Monster form.

Esau is able to turn into the Monster on Hydra island. He just can't be the Monster in or over the water. Is terra firma the limiting factor? I still like the notion that the Monster is something separate from Esau, that he can inhabit and control when needed, but... how to explain its appearance on Hydra island?

Locke2 seems to have a half-download of Locke1 experiences. While he's sleeping, he speaks Locke1's words, he does a double take when he sees Jin walking down the hall, and when Jack repeats some of Locke1's words to him when he leaves the hospital—"I wish you believed me"—he recognizes them, but doesn't explicitly acknowledge it. He pauses, seems to consider... something... intently... and then leaves.

Has Locke2 seen enough of Locke1's life to decide that he doesn't want to accept or in any way pursue those experiences? That his life in LOST2 is less epic, just as tragic, but offers just a bit more contentment and comfort, and as such, preferable. He's choosing to deny LOST1.

Claire and Jack looking into the mirror of the music box from Christian... It seemed meant to be powerful, but ended up being anticlimactic. Did I miss a LOSTy self-reference? I had the thought "another mirror," and the two of them together in it, but couldn't put together anything really cohesive regarding it, y'know?

Had a thought that maybe there are mirrors in LOST2 made from the mirrors of the Island lighthouse, salvaged before the sinking of the Island. Perhaps they offer the Candidates (and ex-Candidates) in LOST2 glimpses and access across realities. It makes sense to me that Christian might have a Lighthouse mirror shard and saved it for his son or daughter.

Of course, the music box plays "Catch A Falling Star, Put It In Your Pocket." Was it Claire who asked Kate to sing that to Aaron? And because her father sang it to her when she was a wee bairn? Or am I misremembering? Frack.

The Locke2-Cooper story isn't all that satisfying to me. It rings somehow false to me. Cooper IS the man Sawyer's looking for in LOST2, right? So he WAS a con man. Hrmm... Actually, maybe I'm okay with Locke2's relationship and accident if Cooper was in the process of running his kidney con on John when the accident happened. Is there time for Detective Ford to enlighten Locke2 as to Cooper's grifting career? Would that revelation get Locke2 to embrace his LOST1 existence?

I like Widmore's gambit vs Sawyer, threatening to wack Kate cuz she's not one of the important ones, not one of the (remaining) names on the list. It works because Sawyer's seen the names, so, in spite of how much Sawyer might deny the supernature of Island goings-on, he recognizes that there are Rules as well. If not Rules that govern his behavior and actions, at least Rules that determine his and his friends' value to the bigger players in the game.

I like Jack's meeting with Bernard. I wish there had been more. I imagine Rose and Bernard being more in the know than any of the other 815ers, perhaps given glimpses of LOST1 long ago, thru their meeting and love, and satisfied to be with each other no matter what else is going on in either reality around them. He rolls with the 815 serendipity without blinking. He even sounds as if he's encountered other 815ers since landing in LAX.

I like that Jack agrees to help Locke-ness, but sticks to his not-leaving-the-Island stance. It's a simple decision that I just didn't anticipate. It seems a little... inelegant, but it gets the job done, y'know?

Is it me, or did the Smoke Monster appear to be more gray than black?

Heh, when Jack carried Sawyer out of the water and onto the beach, I could just hear Sawyer (or maybe it was Josh Holloway) thinking—I don't care WHAT the script says, NO WAY am I gonna let the Doc/Matthew Fox put his lips on mine for some CPR action. Screw that! I'm gonna cough. I'm gonna cough. I'm gonna cough. I'm coughing.

*cough*

Heh. Poor Jack.

With Jin and Sun gone, I am SERIOUSLY rooting for the reboot and rewind to 2004 for a happy rescue. Sun would be pregnant then and Jin and Sun could raise Ji Yeon together. For gosh sakes, when Jin dies, he's only seen his daughter in digital pictures. I thought that Desmond sacrificing his three years with Charlie would be too high a price to pay, but in light of Jin being robbed of ANY life with Ji Yeon, I want Desmond to make the sacrifice.

Did I hear right? Did Sayid tell Jack, "Because it's going to be you, Jack?" Meaning, he is going to be the new Protector? Is that his judgement? Is that inside info he got from Locke-ness? Is that inside info he got from his Infection?

He also reveals that Desmond's alive and (heh) well! And he recognizes his value, based on Esau's desire to see him dead. Good times.

Allright, enough rambling for now. Will hafta give this ep another viewing later in the week. After all the time spent getting the pieces into position, it's pretty great seeing Things Actually Happen.

How happy was I to see the whole gang reunited on Hydra island when Sayid steps out of the jungle? I was kinda beaming. Keerazy. =)

Keep on keepin on~